Below is my 2007 Christmas Letter that I send to family and friends.
Dear Everyone:
The year didn't start out well. Angelo lost his job in January. He was unemployed until July 3rd when he started at Lowe's.
This made planning the kids' birthday parties much more difficult. But we did manage to have a party for both of the kids at the same time on Katelyn's actual birthday—March 11th. For the majority of the planning we only had about a week—which is much too rushed for me—and now I plan it little by little all year.
We invited three families we had gotten to know here in Lake Wales—plus my parents—and had a nice little three hour party complete with chili—chicken tetrazzini—play dough—bubbles--and box cars. The chili and the play dough were the biggest hits of the party. Of course we had one cake for each child—and for the first time in my life I made them instead of bought them. They turned out quite well—and so now I plan on making their cakes from now on until they decide (as teenagers I'm assuming) that they'd rather have the one from the store!
Right before Angelo lost his job—he started going back to school to get his GED. Actually it's a family affair. Twice a week—at Joshua's school—we go have dinner and then Angelo—and even the kids go to classes. Angelo's doing really well. (so much so that he was written up in one of the local newspapers over the summer!!) So we're all very proud of him for that!
We also got not one—but two new computers this year!!! One as a Christmas present last year—and one Angelo won for having the best GED class attendance!!!
Early Easter morning we went to the Bok Tower again. Even though we dressed warmer this time—we were still cold! But the service was very nice. We will be sure to make this a tradition.
One night in April the GED class went to the opening of a local Boys and Girls Club. We were pretty impressed—and over the summer Joshua went there a few days a week. He also goes there a few days a week after school.
Joshua did really well the rest of kindergarten. He really liked his class—had many less behavior problems—and while he still missed more school than I would like—he didn't miss as much as he used to. Plus he loves taking the bus again!
Since the school year started so early—it ended early too. May 22nd was his last day!
I really looked forward to summer this year. (Since last year I really didn't have one since we were buying a house and moving the entire time!)
Over the summer I discovered myspace. I always thought that it was just a teenage thing—but as it turns out—it's not! I LOVE IT! I have about 60 friends—my own blog—and 630 pictures uploaded onto my profile! If any of you want to check out my profile—the site is www.myspace.com/cricket1030. And if any of you want to officially be my friend—it's very simple (and free) to open an account—and then all you have to do is go to my site and send me a friend request! (hit "add me" on my page) I hope to see some of you there!!!
In June—my church ran their annual Vacation Bible School entitled "Make A Splash". I've never seen anything like it. We decorated the entire church to look like a beach retreat—the songs were awesome—the kids raised over $1000 for our sister church in Honduras—and dozens of kids prayed to make first-time professions of faith in Jesus!!! It was absolutely wonderful!
In August—my church took both first and second place in the Florida Church of God State Bible Olympics!!! I was so proud! And boy did it look like fun!! I sure wish there had been a Bible Olympics in the church that I grew up in!
School started on a much more reasonable date this year—August 20th. Joshua is in first grade now!! (can you believe it?) For some reason this (instead of when he went to kindergarten) totally freaks me out! He's been very busy making us proud—as he has recently gotten 100 percent on a number of his spelling tests—and also made the Honor Roll!!!
In October Joshua started some free tutoring that he is eligible for. It wasn't easy to decide which tutoring company would be the best for him. But I decided on I Know I Can Academy. I don't yet know exactly how much it's helped him—but it's still nice to know that he got some extra help this year.
We did "Trunk or Treat" again at our church the Sunday before Halloween. (A number of people decorate their cars—and fill up their trunks with candy—and we have trick or treating in the parking lot of the church.) On Halloween we went trick-or-treating at the mall. I don't like it as well—but the kids were sure cute!!! Joshua was a fireman—and Katelyn was a witch!
Despite some rather scary predictions—we didn't have any problems at all during hurricane season! YIPPEE!!!
We spent Thanksgiving with my parents—at their house in Lake Wales. I was Mom's assistant in the kitchen—and learned a lot about how to make a Thanksgiving dinner. (Maybe one day I will be making it all by myself!!!)
Sadly Angelo's grandmother died on November 26th. Despite the fact that she was 93—it still came as quite a shock. Angelo and I went to her funeral on November 30th—while Joshua and Katelyn stayed at my parents' condo. She will be missed very much.
Joshua of course still loves trains. And this year Joshua discovered YouTube. It has tons and tons of Thomas the Tank Engine videos—and Joshua could watch them all day!!! Though he is starting to expand his interests some with such things as Pokemon and the movie Cars.
Katelyn still loves to learn—would still do flashcards for hours if you let her—and would dearly love to have homework like her brother does! She can't wait to start kindergarten—and loves classrooms of all kinds. Although she still likes him—and watches him once in a while—she seems to pretty much have outgrown Barney. Her favorite character is now Dora. But she also likes Diego, Wonder Pets, Backyardigans, Blues Clues, Scooby Doo, Sponge Bob, Hi-5, and Clifford just to name a few!!!
Well—that's the news from the Bastone Family this year! I hope that everyone has a VERY Merry Christmas and will have a happy, healthy and safe New Year!
Love,
Christine, Angelo, Joshua and Katelyn
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